John,
My name is Liddy Renner and I am Brady’s senior state policy manager.
After I graduated, I became a high school science and health teacher in rural Idaho. I taught students about first-responder skills because, like in many rural areas, emergency response services were volunteer-based and could take a long time to arrive. But I’ll never forget the true reason this was taught in school: I was teaching students how to “stop the bleed,” so that in the event of an active shooter, they could help save their fellow students while they waited for help to arrive.
Instead of teaching my students a typical high school curriculum focused on biology or nutrition, I had to teach them about survival. And frankly, it felt like we were given the often futile task of treating the symptoms of an epidemic — one that kills more than 40,000 Americans a year — rather than focus on treating the actual cause.
These experiences opened my eyes to our nation’s gun violence crisis and led me to pursue a career in public policy. I knew there were policy changes that could actually impact students, for the better, in the classroom.
And that is exactly what Brady’s state policy team is doing.
This year alone, we passed a law in Washington State to require a permit to buy a firearm — one of the most effective solutions to reduce firearm homicide and suicide. In Colorado, we passed a landmark law ensuring that taxpayer dollars are not spent at negligent gun dealers that contribute to our gun violence epidemic. And in New York, we established the Office of Gun Violence Prevention to fund and coordinate programs and solutions to address various forms of gun violence throughout the state.
As you can see, John, we at Brady are making real progress to combat gun violence in statehouses nationwide — an effort that is paramount as the Trump administration continues to attack gun violence prevention solutions federally. And as we go forward, we are prioritizing legislation to increase secure gun storage, improve oversight of gun dealers, and much more.
We are fighting to create a future where teachers no longer have to instruct their students on how to save a life from a gunshot wound or hide from an active shooter.
But we need all the help we can get — and that’s why I’m reaching out to you today, friend. Will you please consider supporting Brady’s state policy team and our work in communities nationwide? Whether you dedicate your time, treasure, or talent, you can fuel our mission to save lives.
